I am now about to finish the 10th week of marathon training. Today I ran my longest distance yet - 15 miles. I was a little nervous and intimidated about today's run going back a day or two but today I woke at 5:45 and did my stretches, had 1.5 cups of coffee and half a banana, and went out and ran the 15. I felt a great deal of accomplishment after I finished and the 20 miler that's scheduled for Easter weekend and that I've been fretting about seems possible now.

My goal for the run today was 2:22:30 (9:30 pace) and I finished in 2:25:23 which isn't too bad. It's not going to win me any awards but running 15 miles at a 9:41 is what it is and it isn't sitting on a couch saying "I need to get in shape."

As I've said before, there's a big difference between "I will" and "I should."

I'll never forget the day Reagan took office. The school gathered us into the cafeteria to watch the inauguration on the lone TV the school had to witness Reagan taking the oath and giving his address while the hostages were simultaneously being released in Iran. What a great day!

The conclusion of his parting words, so eloquently spoken:

We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.

And so, goodbye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

A few weeks ago, I registered for a marathon. I'll be running Pittsburgh 100 days from today which means 99 more days of training are ahead. This week will mark the conclusion of four weeks of training.

So far, the training hasn't been difficult as the distances involved aren't a challenge for me. Week five has the first double-digit long run and that will be the norm for the rest of the training. The plan I'm following comprises of four runs a week, one of which is the long run over the weekend. This long run will gradually increase to 20 miles on Easter weekend and then taper down until the big day in May. During the week, the runs will be two short (three, increasing to five) bookending a medium (increasing to ten); two rest days and a cross-training day round out the week.

Two glitches have come about: the weather and my knee. The weather hasn't forced me to miss any runs yet as the townships have done a sufficient job plowing their sections of the bikepath. However, I aggravated my knee last week and runner's knee has flared up again. It's not enough to stop me from running but I do need to stretch often and am going to PT again to get it worked out. This is my second bout with it.

Will I be ready? The weather will get better, eventually, so it's just the knee that I need to work out. The distances don't intimidate me as long as my body is tuned properly.

I did it; by my watch: 46:20 up and 44:18 down. The official results are four seconds not in my favor but it doesn't affect anything really. About 1/3 of the runners finished behind me - a number I expected. Runs with the word "mountain" in them bring out the hard-core runners. I held my own in this crowd.

The biggest worry was my knee. I have a minor case of runner's knee and I was concerned that after the race, I'd have to shut things down for the rest of the year. The funny thing is that going down the mountain is harder on the knee than going up and while I haven't run since the race yet, the knee is doing ok. I'll take it easy for the rest of the year - probably no more than another 50 miles - and decide on which marathon to run in 2011.

I am running in the South Mountain 10 miler next Sunday. Why? Why not. The challenge is obvious: a 636 foot ascent over a two mile span. The hill begins around mile two and is done by mile four so at least it's out of the way early. Since the half in September, I have been running about 15 miles a week: two short (3-5 miles each) during the week and a longer run on the weekend 6.2-9 miles). After this run, I am going to pare it down some and maybe settle in at ten miles a week or so - three running days - 3, 3, and 4 (as of now I am at 597 miles logged for the year and my goal was >600). I will definitely do, at minimum, another half in the spring. I want to run a marathon next year but haven't completely convinced myself that I am ready. I may try a marathon as early as spring but I am not willing to commit yet. I will ride this year out and decide by the end the year - whether I do two 13.1 milers or a half and a full next year.

So I'm in the mood to listen to some Dead. Fine. But in the right pane of suggestions are what I would expect - Dead songs, except for the top entry: "Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin". Obviously, that's a previously unrecorded Dead song I am not familiar with.

WTF does Matt Damon's opinion of Sarah Palin have to do with the Grateful Dead? Oh wait, this is Youtube, a Google subsidiary; an extension of the left-wing establishment.